It is an act of self-defence

A majority Bollywood filmmakers and producers are in favour of curbing piracy by whatever means.

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt said, "We have been adopting new techniques to deal with the issue. Techies being hired is one of them but this cannot help eradicate it completely as the problem is with the mindset of the people. People want entertainment but do not want to pay for it."

Though some of these measures sit uncomfortably on the legal boundary, production houses say they are an act of self-defence.

Filmmaker Ashok Pandit said, "The state has failed in dealing with piracy, which has resulted in major losses to filmmakers. This new step will be helpful in tackling this problem to some extent, and bring down losses. Though some of the measures adopted can be illegal or against the law, it is an act of self-defence as cyber criminals offering free downloads make a movie made for crores available for free." He added, "The revenue losses suffered due to internet piracy is very high nowadays, as its use has increased."

Arti Shetty from Walkwater productions said, "When we released Tere Bin Laden, it was not expected that the pirated version would be available on web so easily. There were fan mails of people asking us where they can get it as it was banned in Pakistan. Several sites were offering free downloads of the movie. When we learnt about this, we hired help from software experts." She added, "This has become a trend now, even for low-budget projects."